STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Treating the communication of the State Information Commission (SIC) as a complaint, the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) on Thursday directed the Deputy Commissioners/CEOs LAHDC Leh and Kargil to submit a detailed report to the Commission by or before December 28, 2016 with reasonable justification of violating Government orders and instructions in adopting e-tendering and e-procurement system in the districts.
Taking serious note of violating Government orders and the directions of both the Commissions, communicated earlier to the LAHDC Leh and Kagril, the SVC has said that the modus operandi adopted by LAHDC Kargil in e-tendering and e-procurement besides splitting works below the cost of Rs 5.00 crore, the Commission observed that it is also in violation of basic principles of our constitution, which guarantees economic justice to all its citizens besides the procedure adopted by LAHDC Kargil defeats in to-to the transparency and accountability policy of the Government. The SVC observed that the public servant is bound to ensure transparency and accountability in all public dealings and there is no justification for LAHDC to overlook the order of the Government and the instructions of the Commission issued for the purpose from time to time.
The Communication received from the State Information Commission (SIC) states that the Commission has asked the Deputy Commissioners/CEOs LAHDC Leh and Kargil to adopt e-tendering and e-procurement system while inviting tenders for works and procuring office and other supplies in order to ensure fair competition and transparency. Although Deputy Commissioner Leh has initiated and directed all the offices of the district to adopt e-tendering system for all works/procurement of office supplies etc but the Deputy Commissioner Kargil has not acted upon the directions of the SIC, the communication reads. It also mentions that all the Government departments have, time and again, been asked to make e-tendering and e-procurement mandatory to ensure transparency and accountability in the best interest of the Government and general public.
The Communication further exhibited that the LAHDC(Kargil), instead of adopting e-tendering and e-procurement system in Kargil has asked the District Superintending Engineer PWD Kargil to adopt manual tendering system in all works besides splitting the works under CRF below the cost of Rs 5.00 crore, which prima-facie revealed that the purpose of violating Government Orders and the instructions of the Commission can be interpreted merely to benefit blue eyed persons thereby opening avenues for unscrupulous elements to promote corrupt and dishonest practices and cause financial loss to the State exchequer.
